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The Paddle Gear Thread (formerly Cheshire Paddle Gear)


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Which is the way it should be. Instructions were always that gate paddles were opened only when the flow would not compromise the boat, and the baffles are renown for catching all manner of rubbish slowing the flow, and even preventing full closure at times.

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On paddle Gear in general I have just come up the South Stratford and some top paddles are on S shaped cast posts, come a steel channel cut away. I find it hard to believe that the National Trust would have  fitted these steel ones but have since been told that the cast ones are not original ether.

 

Edited by ditchcrawler
Wrong photo
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16 hours ago, Philip said:

Not strictly related to the paddle gear, but I went through Gas No.1 lock on the Grand Union in Berkhamsted a couple of weeks ago and it had brand new top gates. The interesting thing was that no baffles had been fitted to the gate paddle sluices; the difference in water ferocity was noticeable compared to the others which had grilles over them and the lock filled up quicker.

 

Defintely paddle gear related! ?

 

 

28 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

On paddle Gear in general I have just come up the South Stratford and some top paddles are on S shaped cast posts, come a steel channel cut away. I find it hard to believe that the National Trust would have  fitted these steel ones but have since been told that the cast ones are not original ether.

Paddles.jpg

 

I think it was anything goes to get the canal open/keep it open - the requisition of gear from the Monty wasn't exactly official, and concrete was used in the restoration where previously there had been stone and brick. Some of the concrete even has the NT emblem in it!

Edited by magpie patrick
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3 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I find it hard to believe that the National Trust would have  fitted these steel ones

Yes they did.  I had a boat moored at Lapworth a couple of locks down from the junction at the time.

I do remember some criticism of the National Trust for work to the locks and bridges that was not sympathetic to the original construction, in contrast to some well-publicised examples of restoration work to their historic buildings where they were careful to use historically correct materials and techniques. 

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3 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

On paddle Gear in general I have just come up the South Stratford and some top paddles are on S shaped cast posts, come a steel channel cut away. I find it hard to believe that the National Trust would have  fitted these steel ones but have since been told that the cast ones are not original ether.

 

Right photos 

paddle cast.JPG

paddle steel.JPG

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  • 8 months later...

Been a while since anyone added to this - first, the top paddles on the staircase on the Droitwich Canal - which seem to be Worcester and Birmingham gear with a bit extra added...

20220312_090943.jpg

20220312_090936.jpg

Next, the middle paddles on this lock are Northwich paddles, which is where this thread started, presumably for the better gearing - but there seems to be a blanking plate on the gates - surely they didn't build gates with paddles in by mistake? 

20220312_091016.jpg

20220312_104724.jpg

20220312_104737.jpg

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2 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Havent they also locked off one of the bottom paddles to slow the lock operation down to reduce the rise in water level below the locks as it reduces the bridge headroom

 I think that might be an amalgamation of various events - the middle paddles on the two rise had to be governed as they tended to through boats around the bottom lock when filling. 

 

4 hours ago, Pluto said:

Could they have been removed because they were being opened before the lower lock was filled sufficiently, and thus water was falling onto the boat in the chamber.

 

Plausible save for they weren't there when I went through on the opening day! One advantage of documenting more recent history is that we have eyewitnesses... ;) 

 

I don't know whether I have a picture, but the downstream face is entirely wooden clad rather than the frames being exposed, so I do wonder if they spotted the mistake half way through fabrication.  

 

Edited to add - I do have a picture. No blanking plate on the downstream side

 

20220312_104617.jpg

Edited by magpie patrick
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And one more - Perry Barr, note steel plate surrounds for the ground paddles. Most of the locks have ground paddles at both ends, but the top one has bottom gate paddles but still has steel plates.  

 

The plates seem to cover overflow chambers that utilise the ground paddle culverts. It seems extravagant on the top lock to provide these culverts and then not use them for ground paddles! 

20220310_122648.jpg

20220310_120244.jpg

20220310_120222.jpg

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5 hours ago, magpie patrick said:

And one more - Perry Barr, note steel plate surrounds for the ground paddles.

When I first boated Perry Barr in the 70s there were chunky cast iron plates carrying the ground paddles. They had a raised rim round the edge and raised diamonds across the surface to provide grip, and large bolts in moulded-in recesses to hold them down. But after over 100 years of use they were heavily worn in the areas where you put your feet while winding the paddles - several of them had worn right through and had holes 2-3 inches across, so you had to be careful where you stood.

Shame they've all gone though!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Going back through my notes from the L&LC minutes, I find that on 13 September 1815 it was resolved to fit lower gate paddles in order to speed the passage through locks, probably to accommodate the increase of traffic expected when the canal opened throughout the following year. This implies that locks were only fitted with lower ground paddles originally, and that lower gate paddles were fitted subsequently. The remains of lower ground paddles can be found on some locks, but not all, which suggests that many have had major reconstruction work to the chamber. This is fairly easy to identify on some, but not all, L&LC locks, and would need a survey of all chambers to resolve. Paddles seem to have been enlarged in the mid-19th century when railway competition developed.

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Nice shots Jim. The mechanism acted on a sliding plate (paddle) in the horizontal mode. Must have been prone to blockage. There was one in the dry lock at Stoke. Don't know if it's still there.

 

Edited to add:

Just took a look at 'Thunderboat'. The 'Shoutbox' looks like my kind of place! Treading on glass on CWDF . . . wear boots. I like boots.

Edited by Derek R.
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21 hours ago, Jim Riley said:

Here's the pics.

IMG_20170208_110406_polarr.jpg.6c6eb475e97d559149882651055b9f21.jpgIMG_20170208_110038_polarr.jpg.0f928b212b3b836f365c401748a1ab1b.jpg

 

 

 

 Those locks didn't originally have gate paddles - they were put in when the restoration of the 1970's took place. We did Pool Quay locks in a car top dinghy in the early 80's and the ground paddles were frightening - huge whirlpool would develop mid canal that would suck anything in. I think BW agreed as when I repeated the trip in the 90's the ground paddles were locked and the instruction was to use the gate paddles

5 hours ago, Derek R. said:

Nice shots Jim. The mechanism acted on a sliding plate (paddle) in the horizontal mode. Must have been prone to blockage. There was one in the dry lock at Stoke. Don't know if it's still there.

 

If you mean Stoke Bruerne, it and the gates were acquired from Welshpool Lock when the canal was derelict - Welshpool lock in it's restored condition has no ground paddle

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Love technical drawings. Two types of top gates if I'm not mistaken.

The lower set shows the arrangment that can be seen at Stoke Bruerne with the curved iron gates and bent pole balance beams.

The ground paddle slide is easily understood, but that arrangement below the top cill looks like a buffer of sorts, supported by a the 'bar' G, from E to D in the bottom plan.

If so, this looks to be quite complex and would be expensive in terms of maintenance.

I wonder too, if there isn't some sort of hydraulic system of buffer damping associated with the sections showing D. Is there a description of how the system operates?

 

The ground paddle slide when opened would have caused quite a force of water beneath a boat, drawing it hard against the 'buffer'.

Edited by Derek R.
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22 minutes ago, Derek R. said:

Love technical drawings. Two types of top gates if I'm not mistaken.

The lower set shows the arrangment that can be seen at Stoke Bruerne with the curved iron gates and bent pole balance beams.


Looks like the same gates in both the section and on plan to me. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Another couple of different paddles - this time from Hawkesbury 

 

First, one of the ground paddles at the lock.20220421_150430.jpg.b5b500b939be9b583d243ece7cf68681.jpg

 

Next, a rather larger specimen that presumably once let water from the Oxford to the Coventry bypassing the lock - it's next to the spill weir that does the same job. 20220421_150027.jpg.2e1067f6a51caa315c9b623708f6347b.jpg20220421_150047.jpg.7bb6afa15c09f1b27d40c74a4589d3e7.jpg20220421_150036.jpg.7962e0ecb0cae05e3e5a23b2df8e7815.jpg

 

And finally, what I think must be it's more prosaic modern replacement...20220421_150124.jpg.42f50827e4c623c02467ef4e194f6fdd.jpg

All taken this afternoon as I drove the long way round from Stowmarket to Frome 

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This page from a c1794 canal engineer's book http://rowingtonrecords.com/Canals/Witton/index.html#img=DSC00976.JPG gives an idea of how much iron was used on early paddle gear, the ironwork being supported by wooden structures. As little iron as possible was usually used due to cost. Full paddle structures using cast iron may have been fitted in the early 19th century as ironwork costs declined.

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